Lionhead Studios, the maker of Fable and studio of one Peter Molyneux, seems to be up to something.

The studio’s official website has been replaced by the graphic shown above, complete with a counter ticking off about a week’s worth of time. It seems that timer is rolling down to a big website update for the company — as well as something else.

The seven-day ticker will put the new Lionhead Studios website rollout right in the middle of Game Developers Conference 2012. That suggests some kind of announcement; who knows what it could be, but I bet that button is a clue. Maybe Fable: The Journey?

We’ll have more details when our own Ben Richardson hits the ground in San Francisco next week for GDC 2012.

If you were like me – and chances are, if your name is Ross and your grew up in the sticks, you are – then you spent a lot of your formative years playing the game that helped make Fable maestro Peter Molyneux a household name, Populous. (Or perhaps Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods, which was even better.) Possibly – probably – the first God game, populous created the template followed by later Gods-eye view sims like Civilization, Sim city and, well, name the game that fits the format. Unfortunately, the franchise has been property of Electronic Arts since its beginning, and in typical EA style they kind of mismanaged it. The last PC version of the game, 1998′s Populous: The Beginning was badly botched due to it having also been intended for use on the original Playstation. And the less said about Populous DS, the better.

So Populous has lain largely dormant for 14 years. But if information dug up by an enterprising Neogaf forum member named Kifimbo pans out, it may be due for a triumphant return. They searching for more information about a rumored Insomniac title called Outernauts and stumbled onto a wiki page bearing the name “EAP Marketing FY13 Home Page“. Searching around this site,they claim to have located references to the following games:

*The Secret World
*Overstrike
*Populous
*Outernauts
*Respawn

The Secret World (Funcom) and Overstrike (Insomniac) are already scheduled to be published in partnership with EA. The other three are not confirmed titles, though Outernauts’ doman registration has been confirmed by VG 24/7. As for the other two, Kifimbo speculates that Respawn probably refers to a new game from Respawn entertainment, a guess that sounds as good as anything we’re likely to offer.

We were not able to replicate Kifimbo’s results on the site, so take all of this with a grain of salt. That won’t stop us, however, from being excited about the possibility of a new Populous game. We really need this to happen. We’ll even pray, if it helps.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/the-video-game-gods-might-be-resurrecting-populous/feed/0Steam Holiday Sale Starts Todayhttp://www.gamefront.com/steam-holiday-sale-starts-today/
http://www.gamefront.com/steam-holiday-sale-starts-today/#commentsMon, 19 Dec 2011 19:56:49 +0000Phil Owenhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=144124
We were just having a funny conversation about how Steam sales become less exciting over time because after a while you own every game in the store. Fortunately, I’m not to that point yet, and so I can still be filled with dread in regards to all the money I’m going to spend in this new sale.

The sale will feature different “highlights” every day, and today’s big things are Portal 2 for ~$7, Metro 2033 for $4.99 and Fable III for $12.49, among other stuff.

In addition to those big deals, pretty much the entire Steam catalog is on sale, so you’ll probably have to spend a lot of time browsing to find something or some things you like. There goes my evening.

Also, they’re doing some thing where you complete certain objectives in games and you get free in-game items or other gifts.

There’s a lot going on in this Steam sale, and you can find out all the deets here. Good luck with that, though; the store is kind of broken right now, so you may or may not be able to get in right now. Be patient; this sale isn’t going anywhere, at least not until it ends on January 2.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/steam-holiday-sale-starts-today/feed/3Microsoft Offering Up a Pair of Xbox 360 Bundles for the Holidayshttp://www.gamefront.com/microsoft-offering-up-a-pair-of-xbox-360-bundles-for-the-holidays/
http://www.gamefront.com/microsoft-offering-up-a-pair-of-xbox-360-bundles-for-the-holidays/#commentsTue, 18 Oct 2011 23:07:49 +0000Phil Owenhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=131770
Microsoft is prepping some stuff for you to buy this holiday season, and if I were a prospective Xbox 360 buyer, one of these deals might be just what I need to go get one. You can see the console bundles I’m talking about pictured above.

One has an 250gb Xbox 360, Kinect, Kinect Adventures (which already came with this bundle) and Carnival Games: Monkey See Monkey Do for $399. The other has a 250gb Xbox 360, Halo: Reach and Fable III for $299. I’d say if you’re in the market for one of these you should go for the latter bundle; Kinect still isn’t cool enough to warrant the purchase, and I say that having purchased Kinect already.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/microsoft-offering-up-a-pair-of-xbox-360-bundles-for-the-holidays/feed/0Fable III Is On Mega Sale on Steam Right Nowhttp://www.gamefront.com/fable-iii-is-on-mega-sale-on-steam-right-now/
http://www.gamefront.com/fable-iii-is-on-mega-sale-on-steam-right-now/#commentsThu, 06 Oct 2011 19:51:57 +0000Phil Owenhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=129268
I may have had my problems with Fable III’s later stages, but it’s still a good and hilarious game, and you should probably play it. And if it’s $16.99, like it is on Steam at this particular moment, then you just have no excuse to avoid it.

Yes, that’s right, Fable III is 66% off on Steam right now, and you should probably just go ahead and buy it. Also, the DLC is 66% off, too, which means Traitor’s Keep is $2.37. Really, you should stop reading this and just buy this stuff already before you die.

This is Steam’s weekend deal, which means you have until Monday to take advantage. But you shouldn’t wait. You should play this weekend, you idiot.

Peter Molyneux announced at the Microsoft E3 presser an all-new Fable title supported by Kinect called Fable: The Journey. They demo showed a dude casting spells and s–t in an extremely on-rails experience. It looked pretty lame, but we’ll reserve judgment until we get a closer look at it. Oh wait, I already didn’t reserve judgment. Sorry, Peter. Luv u.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/peter-molyneux-announces-fable-the-journey-for-kinect/feed/0Comment Of The Week: Are Used Game Sales Worse Than Poverty?http://www.gamefront.com/comment-of-the-week-are-used-game-sales-worse-than-poverty/
http://www.gamefront.com/comment-of-the-week-are-used-game-sales-worse-than-poverty/#commentsFri, 20 May 2011 23:01:30 +0000Ross Lincolnhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=100594“Comment of the Week” is a brand new, recurring post on Game Front. We scour our week’s stories looking for the funniest or smartest comments from our readers.

Yesterday, GameFront’s Phil Owen posted on Lionhead designer Mike West’s assertion that resale of used copies of video games is more harmful to the gaming industry than piracy. We chose to post his statement without comment, but our readers jumped into the debate and offered some rather good observations about this issue. For our readers, the question seemed to come down to the idea of ownership – do we actually own the software we purchase, or are we signing an extended leasing agreement?

By far the best comment on this post came from reader Logical Person. He had apparently had a lot to say about the matter, and his comments (edited for clarity) are GameFront’s very first Comment of The Week:

“This won’t solve their problems.

I, for example, figured out that eventually everything WILL go digital (So your ‘solution’ is already coming). But I separate every digital download with a digital pass/account. Using steam as an example; I don’t buy 2 games on the same steam account- meaning I could one day sell a steam account (1 game, 1 email, etc) and not lose my other steam games. I keep a list of all my accounts and games, and Steam can’t tell the difference. Steam won’t ban an account because it one day started connecting from a different IP. They say in their agreement they will ban an account if they find out it was sold, but how can they ever find out unless the person who sold it is a complete moron?

Don’t forget, you can always sell your game at a higher price than anyone else selling a normal copy, because if you purchased any DLC, or had to put in an online code that costs 10 dollars to activate multiplayer for [people who purchased ysed games], they [the purchaser] stay with the account.

The only downside to this is that you can’t really have a friend list on anything but the accounts that you know you’re going to keep. Eventually, (another 5-10 years?), everything will be digital. And this will be the only way to sell your games that you don’t play anymore. Now, Software/Game [should] seriously shut the hell up and understand that the business they are in cannot be treated like an automobile industry, where you sell a car and expect repair bills to add to the total profit from that car, but rather [more of] a food industry. You sell the product once, and forget about it because it’s been consumed.”

Hard to argue with that. Thanks for sharing, Logical Person. Meanwhile, we want to encourage our readers to keep us sharp and share their thoughts in comments. Until next Friday, cheers.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/comment-of-the-week-are-used-game-sales-worse-than-poverty/feed/2Buying a A Game Used Is More Harmful Than Pirating a Game, Says Lionhead Employeehttp://www.gamefront.com/buying-a-a-game-used-is-more-harmful-than-pirating-a-game-says-lionhead-employee/
http://www.gamefront.com/buying-a-a-game-used-is-more-harmful-than-pirating-a-game-says-lionhead-employee/#commentsThu, 19 May 2011 09:18:54 +0000Phil Owenhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=100268

How much money does a developer see from a pirated game? $0. How much money does a developer see from a used game sale? $0. Which of those is more likely to lead to a new game sale? The pirated game, obviously, although the chances are certainly not great that that will happen.

That’s the logic that Lionhead designer Mike West is using when he made this comment to Eurogamer when discussing the financial prospects for Fable III on PC:

“For us it’s probably a no-lose even with piracy as it is. But, as I say, second-hand sales cost us more in the long-run than piracy these days.”

He’s optimistic about piracy because, he says, any money they make on the PC version of Fable III is just frosting after the rather robust Xbox 360 sales.

Here’s a question for people who know about these things: What is the percentage of used game purchasers who buy DLC as compared to new game purchasers?

The PC version of Fable III will be out on Steam and GFWL on May 17, only like seven months after we played the Xbox 360 version. What’s up with that? The folks at Lionhead explain in this dev diary. Not having played this version of the game, I can’t verify any of the stuff they say about it, but it does seem like they’ve at least been trying to make a legit PC experience. Check it out.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/whats-the-difference-between-the-360-and-pc-versions-of-fable-iii-dev-diary/feed/1Fable 3 PC Available on Steam and Games for Windows Marketplace at Launchhttp://www.gamefront.com/fable-3-pc-available-on-steam-and-games-for-windows-marketplace-at-launch/
http://www.gamefront.com/fable-3-pc-available-on-steam-and-games-for-windows-marketplace-at-launch/#commentsThu, 21 Apr 2011 14:59:49 +0000Ron Whitakerhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=95126

If you’re looking forward to playing Fable 3 on PC, but don’t want to have to head to the store or buy it from Games for Windows, you should be glad to hear this. Microsoft has announced that they will release the Lionhead-developed RPG simultaneously on Games for Windows Marketplace and Steam, as well as at retail, when the game launches May 17.

Fable 3 is slated to appear on both digital download services for pre-order today. Pre-ordering will net you a few bonuses, depending on where you pre-order from. GfW preorders will receive Fable: Lost Chapters, while those pre-ordering from Steam will get the Rebel’s Weapon and Tattoo Pack.

No word in this press release on whether the Steam version will have Games for Windows Live built in, but we’re going to go ahead and assume that it will. It’s almost too much to hope that Lionhead would have built a Steamworks version as well (or instead, like THQ did), especially with Microsoft’s need for high-profile games to revitalize the GfWL service.

Still, you’re just about a month away from getting Fable 3 on PC. That’s at least a little good news, right?

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/fable-iii-pc-system-requirements/feed/0Peter Molyneux Has Just Been Messing With Us All Alonghttp://www.gamefront.com/peter-molyneux-has-just-been-messing-with-us-all-along/
http://www.gamefront.com/peter-molyneux-has-just-been-messing-with-us-all-along/#commentsThu, 17 Mar 2011 23:41:22 +0000Phil Owenhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=88928

At the BAFTA game awards last night, Peter Molyneux, he of Fable fame, received the Academy Fellowship. (This is the only time I’m going to talk about this farce of an awards show.) Molyenux gave an acceptance speech, naturally, and being that he has a personality, he said something funny.

“I’d like to thank the press, by the way, for listening to my stuff,” he began. “I could name at least 10 features in games that I’ve made up to stop journalists going to sleep and I really apologise to the team for that.”

Aww, how kind of you to call us “journalists.” Never have kinder words been spoken of us.

Take a trip back to Albion in this Xbox 360 exclusive for Fable III. Traitor’s Keep offers four new quests featuring story-driven gameplay that introduce two new hero costumes (the prisoner outfit and Logan’s solider outfit), three new weapons that can be unlocked through the Windows Phone 7 game, Fable: Coin Golf (available in March), a new collectible audio book, and 250 points of Xbox LIVE achievements.

The three new levels that unlock new regions on your map are:

Ravenscar Keep: As the new ruler of Albion, you’ll discover the violent inmates under your care and face a breakout by the prisoners held in the maximum security wing: The Inventor, The Zoologist and the mysterious third prisoner.

Clockwork Island: Home of the former head of Reaver Industries, before Reaver’s hostile takeover, and where all the inventions in Fable III come from, this island contains never before seen inventions – the clockwork creatures.

The Godwin Estate: An island between Albion and Aurora containing the estate of a wealthy lord. Upon his death the island was awarded to his daughter who let the plantation fall into disrepair in pursuit of her obsession, the magical creatures of Albion. Encounter the Fable III creatures fighting in never before seen combinations, and unusual encounter settings.

We have several keys to give out. So take a chance and enter to win. We will close this contest out at 12pm Wednesday March 16th. We will contact the winners via FaceBook. Not sure you want to waste your time? Check out the GameFront review of the new DLC, it might change your mind.

There are a few things that notify you that you’re playing Fable III: 1) various British accents. 2) lots of weird jokes about death. 3) the plot contains mostly vague but occasionally blatant real-world parallels.

Traitor’s Keep, now, is the realest of all real-world Fable III parallels, because it’s about a secret island prison called Ravenscar Keep where King Logan would throw any and all persons he thought might be a threat to the kingdom. And it has a torture chamber.

The main thrust of the new quest, which is triggered after you finish the main story, is that a former Albion general sought, during the reign of Logan, to abolish the monarchy, and after attempting a coup this General Turner was tossed in the Keep. Now, Turner has sent an assassin after you, and you’ll have to travel to a few of Albion’s island locales to figure out what the hell is going on. You’ll put down a prison riot, battle robuhts and ride a boat ’round the world.

Much moreso than the last Fable III story DLC, Traitor’s Keep feels legit. It’s got all the action you’d expect and is hilarious throughout — the quest will take you to my new favorite location in the game: a menagerie of strange animals called the Godwin Estate. There you’ll find unusual specimens, such as the monkeys that explode when they see strangers. Too, the creepy owner of the menagerie, Mary (literary reference!) performed plenty of strange experiments on various creatures, as the islands numerous cemeteries will attest, and you’ll undoubtedly spend much of your time on that island reading punny gravestones. It’s delightfully morbid. Or morbidly delightful?

Oops, I forgot one of the important “How You Know You’re Playing Fable III” elements: it tries really hard to be morally complex.

Given that this DLC is about Albion’s Guantanamo Bay, Lionhead’s traditional “Are You A Douchebag, bro?” posturing has to be present, but it’s only posturing; none of the characters in the game seem to be conflicted about this prison’s existence, but, then again, that’s probably because nobody knew about it. However, at least one person who was thrown in the prison had done nothing wrong, and after you complete the quest you can wander the prison and become friends with the prisoners. There’s your moral complexity, I guess.

This pack costs 560 MS Points and will net you about three hours of main quest in three new locations, as well as no fewer than five new “find that item” quests and three new outfits. And you’ll get to fight exploding robot dogs. Also, it’s really, really funny. I’d say it’s more than worth that $6.

Those still looking to get mileage out Fable III will get their chance this spring, when the Fable III DLC “Traitor’s Keep” launches on March 1st on Xbox LIVE, for 560 MS points ($7). Players will return to Albion at the behest of a mysterious prisoner, who will introduce them to three new areas to explore, all with enticing names. Ravenscar Keep, Clockwork Island, and the Godwin Estate (where everything, presumably, is compared to the Nazis) will provide additional hours of Peter Molyneux and Lionhead’s distinctive brand of customizable, action-RPG entertainment.

Also emanating from Microsoft’s February Game‘s Showcase is the news that Fable III will finally appear on the PC, appearing May 17th in North America and May 19th everywhere else. If you’re a PC user with a burning desire to rule a fictionalized version of Britain, or if you want to dress up a corn-rowed man wielding a blunderbuss in a steampunk-inspired take on late-Georgian drag, your wait will soon be over.

Check out this gallery of Traitor’s Keep screens to see what lies in store.